Daily Current Affairs Updates–23rd December 2016

Daily Current affairs News Updates about the National and International events were listed here. Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other competitive exams can use this.

National:

NGT bans open waste burning

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday imposed a complete ban on burning of waste in open places and announced a fine of Rs. 25,000 on each incident of bulk waste burning.

For each such incident, violators is responsible and be liable to pay environmental compensation of Rs. 5,000 in case of simple burning, while Rs. 25,000 in case of bulk waste burning,” said by Justice Swatanter Kumar Chairperson of NGT.

Govt sanctions 37,000 more troops to CISF to boost security

The Union Home Ministry has sanctioned 37,000 additional troops to CISF in order to bolster security at critical infrastructures like airports and metros, CISF Director General OP Singh said. “This has come as a shot in the arm for us,” he added. The CISF guards 59 civil airports, while 3,000 of its personnel are deployed to guard the Delhi Metro.

Government launches Google Toilet Locator app

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday launched the ‘Google Toilet Locator’ mobile application as part of the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ to help people locate the nearest toilet. As per reports, the toilet locator will have details on location of all toilets in Delhi-NCR and Madhya Pradesh for now, to be followed by other states soon.

Govt announces new rules to ease process of getting passport

Government announced new passport rules today in order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen V K Singh, said birth certificate is no longer mandatory for getting passport. He said date of birth on documents such as PAN card, driving license, Aadhar, Matriculation Certificate will also suffice.

Italy’s cabinet has approved a state-bailout for the country’s third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said, his government had authorised a 21 billion dollars fund to support Italy’s embattled banking sector. The announcement came after Monte dei Paschi had failed to raise 5 billion euros from private investors.

A state bailout risks losses for thousands of ordinary retail investors. Small investors are estimated to hold some two billion euros of Monte dei Paschi’s bonds.

IS group who held Syria town was assaulted by Fresh Turkish results in 16 kill; toll rises to 88

Fresh Turkish raids on an Islamic State group stronghold in northern Syria killed 16 civilians today, a monitor said, a day after dozens were killed in fierce bombardment of the town.

Today’s strikes on Al-Bab killed 16 civilians, including three children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The raids brought the total civilian toll from 24 hours of Turkish raids on the town to at least 88 dead, including 24 children, reported bythe Observatory.

Voting on South Sudan’s arms embargo to be held at UN Security Council

The UN Security Council will vote today on whether to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan. The council will meet today to decide on the US-drafted resolution calling for a one-year ban on weapons sales to the war-torn country.

The United States, backed by Britain and France, has argued that cutting off the arms flow was urgently needed following UN warnings that the country faced the risk of mass atrocities. Diplomats however said the measure fell short of the nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-member council

Business :

On the case of 2008 crisis Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $7.2 billionwith the US Department of Justice

German-based Deutsche Bank has agreed to a $7.2 billion (over ₹48,800 crore) settlement with the US Department of Justice for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities. The malpractice by several leading banks was cited among the primary reasons for the 2008 financial crisis. Earlier, the Justice Department had demanded the bank to pay $14 billion (over ₹95,000 crore) as penalty for the same.

The 25% stake of FreeCharge worth $200 mn is being acuried by PayPal

American payments platform PayPal is reportedly buying a 25% stake in Snapdeal-owned payments platform FreeCharge for around $200 million. Reports claim that PayPal’s initial offer was for a controlling 51% stake, but FreeCharge’s largest shareholder SoftBank is not keen to divest a majority stake. Interestingly, Alibaba, in which SoftBank has a significant stake, has a controlling stake in Paytm.

Saudi Arabia projects $53bln deficit in 2017

Saudi Arabia cabinet has projected a 2017 Budget deficit of about 53 billion US Dollar and said in a statement that this year’s deficit will be 79 billion US Dollar, down 8.9 per cent from 2016’s budget forecast. Expenses next year will reach 237 billion US Dollar against revenues of 184 billion US Dollar.

The world’s biggest oil exporter froze major building projects, cut Cabinet ministers’ salaries and imposed a wage freeze on civil servants in the wake of last year’s record deficit.

Appointments:

Nusli Wadia is been removed from Tata Motors board of directors by its Share holders

Shareholders of Tata Motors have voted to remove independent director Nusli Wadia from the board of directors. At an extraordinary general meeting held yesterday, 71.20 per cent of the shareholders voted in favour of a resolution moved by Tata Sons to remove Mr Wadia as independent director of Tata Motors. On Wednesday, Mr Wadia was removed as independent director from the board of Tata Steel.

Science and Technology:

World’s first solar road opens in France

The world’s first solar road made with 30,000 square feet of solar panels has been opened in the French village of Normandy. The one-kilometre long road took five years and cost $5.2 million to develop. It will be used for a two-year test period to check if it can generate enough energy to power street lighting in the village.

Sports News :

Gaayathri ends Tamil Nadu’s gold drought in National shooting

In the 60th National shooting championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Thursday the Tamil Nadu’s N. Gaayathri demolished a field of experienced and promising juniors to win the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position competition

She became the first individual gold medal winner from Tamil Nadu in the senior category after two decades. Roopa Unnikrishnan was the last shooter representing the State to win gold.

The 35-year old Shiva Keshavan has won gold medal in Asian Luge Championships which held in Nagano, Japan by defeating local favourite Tanaka Shohei Clocking a timing of 1 minute and 39.362 seconds, the Manali-based luger finished almost five seconds ahead of his closest competitor. However, the victory came with its fair share of roadblocks. During the first official training session, Shiva suffered a crash at 130 km/h, injuring himself and breaking his sledge in the process. He would go onto miss two practice sessions, before eventually taking part in the main race.

women’s U-18 Asia Cup hockey : Indian Team wins bronze

India defeated South Korea 3-0 in the women’s U-18 Asia Cup hockey in Bangkok on Thursday to win the bronze medal in the tournament. India got the lead in the second half following a penalty corner by Ritu, while Sangita Kumari scored a brace to make it 3-0. Hockey India announced a cash reward of ₹1 lakh for each player.

Sania to pair up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in Brisbane, Australia in 2017

Sania Mirza, the world’s top-ranked women’s doubles player, has announced that she will partner up with American former No. 1 doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the year-opening WTA Brisbane International. The duo has played together in the past, having registered wins at Brisbane and Sydney. Mirza had partnered up with Czech Barbora Strycova after breaking up with Martina Hingis.

India 2017 Davis Cup Team lead by Bhupathi as non-playing Captian

Mahesh Bhupathi will take over as the captain of the Indian Davis Cup squad for a two-year term,

The selection committee, which met under the chairmanship of former Davis Cup captain S.P. Misra, brought Yuki Bhambri back into the squad Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Leander Paes and Prajnesh Gunneswaran will be the other members of the squad. Two youngsters Adil Kalyanpur and Nitin Kumar Sinha have been nominated to train with the team for the tie.